If you ever go down the street and have an encounter with a rat the size of a building is likely that you're sleeping, that or you've found one of the murals from ROA. To those interested in the subject: street art, ROA is not at all the "new kid" on the block. On the contrary the work and reputation precede the artist for years. For us it is not new either, but it is true that perhaps we had not gave him enough attention on our pages, always reserving content for future editions of Belio.

Today we want to share with you the following video as it explains clearly the concerns of ROA. And gives an overview of his recent works, those that were part of his last show at White Walls Gallery in San Francisco last April. His mission: to repopulate the cityscape with animals, as a way to have them re-enter the contemporary landscape that was once theirs.

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The past weekend we visited the thirteenth edition of the Bright Tradeshow, the leader fair in street wear and extreme sports in Berlin. There, next to the collections presented by the brands from the scene there was also space for art. And that's why here you have a visual review of some of the works that we found there.

The art section was led by the galleries Own:Gallery, Westberlin Gallery, Ozaki Gallery that presented the work of Andrew Pommiers, and Arty Farty, but also projects like ReSkate, that we already speak about on our website, and artists such as Jo Hempel & Gunnar Nicolaus, Leyla Rodriguez, Shimpei Naito, etc.

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Yesterday we passed by the opening at Box 32 in Berlin. It was packed with interesting artworks from two great artist. On one side Swanski from Poland presented his new painting series Close Ups and he is the man behind Turbokolor street-wear brand. And on the other side Martin Krusche, well-known berliner because his successful street-wear brand Yackfou.

Both artists/brands presented new works that you can see on canvas, but also on t-shirts, hoodies, skateboards, etc... as part of their summer / fall collections. If you are in Berlin or planing to visit the german city, come by and check it out! Only until July 22. Or you can always see our visual report behind the cut.

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In the U.S. there's always something brewing in the shadows of the underground scene, especially in music, last year it was the popularization of Witch House, named by others as Drag or Shoegaze, subgenres within genres that mix electronic dark atmospheres, industrial sounds and slow down hip-hop. And as it usually happens in the art scene, we have witnessed a pseudo-eighties aesthetic update especially in illustration, photography and video, which also collected the same adjectives: dark atmospheres, scenes that could belong to a pagan ritual and lots of iconographic symbolism.

Brandon Long is a young filmmaker and photographer from Walnut Creek, California. Also known as The Only Magic Left is Art, that perfectly embodies this aesthetic trend. A lover of old-school photography, experiments with polaroids and expired films, his works are full of that old charm, colors, burnt, dust and noise from another era. And his protagonists are sometimes enigmatic characters dressed in black or with gas masks, and pastoral landscapes that seem rusty postcards sent from a dystopian future. Besides the works that we present you behind the cut, you can see the complete series on his Flickr profile.

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It may not be in Croatan, but in the United States, there are our dear San (DY:001) and Escif engaged in an adventure that have developed together, a short of tour on the west coast, where their personal and so distinctive styles are on a hunt for a common ground.

It is now, when a month has passed since the start of this journey that we can see some first results: Lost murals in the rough and dry U.S. landscape and also the first show of the tour at Fifty24SF Gallery in San Francisco, which opened last Thursday. Apart from the images you can see below, you can follow the adventures of San and Escif through the blog they have created for this project: elterceroencuestion.blogspot.com. Good luck friends!

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Everybody in the daily life has experienced some surreal scenes, even better than fiction and that could well be part of a comedy show on television. Sometimes the best scenario for this unforgettable moments is your workplace, and if we focus on the contemporary art scene surely we find the perfect breeding ground for a comedy series. This must be what Jim Kempner thought, collector and gallery owner of Jim Kempner Fine Art, who also writes and stars in The Madness of Art.

Along with Dru Arstark, director of the gallery, Jim has lampooned the day by day life in a gallery: impulsive collectors, useless assistants, fatal accidents and coincidences, art fairs, unconscionable artist-egos, verbiage-post-artistry for non-art-experts, reviews in newspapers, envies, stabbings, passion and big doses of humor. By now they have already published the second season (twelve episodes per season) and can be viewed online at their website: The Madness of Art.



We do not know for sure if some of the chapters are directly inspired by real events. But we do know is that Jim Kempner Fine Art is a real gallery, specialized in contemporary art in all media, with a special emphasis on contemporary master prints. Opened in the heart of Chelsea since 1997. His catalog includes artists such as Louise Bourgeois, Jane Hammond, Howard Hodgkin, Jasper Johns, Alex Katz, Jeff Koons, Sol Lewitt, Elizabeth Peyton, Ed Ruscha, Donald Sultan, Andy Warhol, Terry Winters, and others.

Today, July 1st is the opening of Imaginary at the LABoral Art Center, an exhibition that reveals the interrelations between mathematics and art. Undoubtedly one of the main issues that catches the attention of Belio.

This is an interactive exhibition in which allied art, geometry, beauty and mathematical formulation. The show is an adaptation of the exhibition, with the same title, developed by the Mathematical Research Institute Oberwolfach (MFO), Germany. The exhibition includes images based on mathematical formulas often simple as well as sculptures or 3D projections of mathematical surfaces. It also has an interactive part, where viewers can create their own mathematical figures and see how interesting it may be the artistic combination of algebra, geometry and image. The exhibition will remain open in the Chill-out of the Art Centre until August 31.

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Our friends I Am I Can are developing the “Encaja” proyect for a year now at CAMON, a cultural space funded by Caja Mediterráneo based in Alicante, Madrid and Murcia, that encourages the technological interaction and creation.

Encaja is a monthly activity where the audience and other special guests work with the imagination and Mega Blocks toys to create art-works based on a specific topic. The works created are part of the cover design of the CAMON activities program the following month.

On July the 15th, they celebrate the Encaja final edition and it will be special: there will be a party with awards, visual and music by a guest DJ. More information: ENCAJA

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For common readers of Belio, talking about the artist BLU at this point means no surprise, since we have posted several videos on our site and even published an article about his work in the Belio 025: Mad. In 2009, Blu published a DVD titled Megunica, a 83 minutes documentary about his tour on Mexico, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Argentina. Thanks to Wired magazine from Italy, you can enjoy here video online available in full:

Yesterday we had the opportunity to visit the new installation by Chinese artist Li Hui: Cage. It consists of a cage constructed with different laser rays that switch on and off allowing the viewer to stand inside and outside the cell, to experience the different feelings about the freedom conception. The installation can be visited until October 1 at Ernst Schering Foundation in Berlin.

Cage by Li Hui

For Li Hui, materials such as acrylic, LED and laser light are the key elements of his installations and sculptures – not because he wants to demonstrate what the technology and the material can do, but to trigger feelings. Though Hui claims to be an apolitical person (obviously, if he wants to avoid problems with Chinese authorities), his high-tech works criticize the problems of modern industry and the growing materialism of our times. Here's a video where you can see the process of creating some of his works, and behind the cut you will find pictures of some other Hui's installations and sculptures.

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Our readers already know about our passion for visual arts, and one of the disciplines that catches our attention is the video art scene with all the different branches you can include: animation, motion graphics, 3D, music clips, shorts, advertising, etc.. And for all those restless creators, today we introduce you a festival where you can submit your work:

DOTMOV is a video festival organized by the prestigious Japanese design magazine Shift, which each year makes a public call for submissions. Among the videos received a jury (Kenta Torimoto, Ian Anderson / The Designers Republic, Motion Theory, Yoshi Sodeoka, Jiro Ohashi, KiYoung Park / Sugarcubes, David Linderman and Hideki Inaba) will select the best works that will be exhibited at the Festival be held in November 2011. The deadline to submit your work is September 10. Here you can find all the information.

One of our favorite galleries in NY, Jonathan LeVine Gallery is pleased to present Mosh Pits, Human and Otherwise, recent works by Brooklyn-based artist Dan Witz, in what will be his first solo exhibition at the gallery. The show features large-scale oil paintings on canvas from Witz’s celebrated Mosh Pit series—produced over the past ten years—marking the first time works in the series have been exhibited together.

Influenced by his background as a musician in post-punk noise bands during the downtown scene of New York in the early 1980s, the Mosh Pit motif marries Witz’s two passions—performing and painting, both heavily fuelled by the rebellious spirit of art and music of his generation. Dan Witz is known for hyper-realistic figurative painting, with a career spanning over three decades in both studio work and street art interventions.

The opening is the next Thursday, June 30. And the show can be visited until July 30, 2011. So, if you are passing by The Big Apple this summer don't miss this show.

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The swine flu, the avian flu (H5N1), Malaria, Smallpox, E.coli, HIV, Human papillomavirus (HPV), SARS Corona virus, T4 Bacteriophage, etc. Viruses are microscopic infectious entities, invisible to human eyes. But not for the artist Luke Jerram, who has created a collection of glass sculptures inspired by these viruses. The virus sculptures are approximately 1,000,000 times larger than the actual viruses.

The sculptures are designed in consultation with virologists from the University of Bristol, using a combination of different scientific photographs and models. They are made in collaboration with glassblowers Kim George, Brian Jones and Norman Veitch.

The glass sculptures were created to contemplate the global impact of each disease and to consider how the artificial colouring of scientific imagery affects our understanding of these phenomena. Jerram is exploring the tension between the artworks’ beauty, what they represent and their impact on humanity.



Glass Microbiology show could be visited at American Museum of Glass until October the 16th, at Glasstress Venice Biennale until November the 27th and Biennale Kijkduin in the Hague until June the 26th, 2011.

Luke Jerram started his professional career as an artist in 1997. Based in the UK, Luke Jerram’s practice involves the creation of sculptures, installations, live arts projects and gifts. Further information on Luke’s practice can be found here: www.lukejerram.com.

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Belio Magazine is featured in MAGS!, the new book released by Monsa Publications. MAGS! is a compilation of different magazines focusing on trends, design, illustration, photography, film… Eva Minguet has selected the most original magazines from the world over that can show us projects from some of the best in the business.

“Magazines are an essential element of visual communication in the world today, one with an unlimited number of creative resources.” Minguet said. For this reason she decided to create this book with 192 pages that compilates the work of 21 international magazines, like Amateur, Blü, Fused, Picnic, Finearts, Digital Temple, Blend, Kitten, Wane, Rua Mag or Belio.

Each Magazine have a portfolio that contains a selection of works, including covers, foldouts and contact details. You can also find a brief interview composed of three questions so you can get a first hand look at the operation and philosophy behind these different magazines.

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In many countries, today is the celebration of Fête de la Musique or World Music Day. And here at Belio we celebrate it too!We have always conceived Belio as a visual complement to any kind of music. And therefore today we give away to all of you a couple of mixtapes that we created especially for the occasion. The first of them can be listened on streaming directly from the cloud or downloaded for free from our new profile at SoundCloud.

BELIO: SUMMIXER (day & night) 21J-2011
Entitled as Summixer (Summer + Mix), we have compiled a series of tracks that define some of the various influences that run through the speakers at Belio's office and we hope they will cheer you up and accompany your summer. Songs that have inspired us over the past months, weeks, days... and now they are a part of these two mixtapes with a subtle summerish atmosphere.

Varied rhythms, quasi-pop melancholy melodies, different ethnic influences, small glitches and pixel distortions, eighties inspired sounds renamed as new trends, post-dubstep dark atmosphere, reminiscents of Martian hip-hop... definitely an eclectic electronic amalgam that includes, among other artists, Lorn, Toki Monsta, Shabazz Palace, Bop, Amon Tobin, Keef Baker, Apparat, John Hopkins, Bibio and Slugabed.

A total of 24 songs divided into two groups of 12, symbolizing the hours of the day: a perfect mixtape to enjoy during daylight hours (summixer_day) and another for the hours dominated by the moon (summixer_night). A full session of an hour and a half that includes moments of calmness and darkness at night, ecstasy rhythms for the day, melancholic sunsets and beautiful sound-sunrises. The perfect soundtrack for the pixelated Ferrari Testarossa (OutRun) that illustrates the cover of both mixes.



If you want to listen and download the second mixtape, summixer_night, you should continue reading behind the cut...

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Among many other interesting events, the past edition of OFFF was the premiere for Resonance, also showed at the past Sónar Festival. Resonance is a collaborative project with over 30 independent visual and audio designers / studios. The aim was to explore the relationship between geometry and audio in unique ways.

Organized and produced by SR Partners, animators and audio designers were paired up at the beginning of the project and were given the guidelines to create a piece between 12 and 20 seconds and in HD quality, the rest was up to them. Among the selected group of artists there were well-known creators like Displace Studios and MoveMakeShake, Esteban Diacono, Kultnation, Mate Steinforth, Matthias Müller, Momentary People, MRK, Physalia studio, Polynoid, Thiago Maia, Tom Waterhouse, Audionerve, Combustion, CypherAudio, Hecq, Mutant Jukebox, Studio Takt, etc.

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Today our news could not be otherwise but a reminder: We are outraged! We keep being outraged! And this Sunday there is a golden opportunity to demonstrate it out in the streets. There is demonstrations called in many cities and towns in the world. Therefore, if you are worried about your future, if you don't like the current situation, if you think a better and fairer society is possible... Get out! And prove it. There are plenty of reasons and if not, look at the following link. SEE YOU IN THE STREETS!

But far from becoming a purely political content magazine, we accompanied this news with a collection of posters anonymously created to support the movement. Many of our readers have asked us to do a publication devoted to this subject... But there is already projects such as Voces Con Futura, from which we extracted the following collection of images, we consider it is better to join forces, to collaborate and spread this interesting and altruistic project. It is open to the participation of everybody and here at Belio we think is a great way to support and give an image to the movement.

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A few months ago Montana Gallery in Seville became Delimbo Art Space. And with this change we have seen an effort by its managers to consolidate a serious and mature project that expands beyond the limits and influences of street art and graffiti. The exhibition now in its walls, with the most recent work from Mariajosé Gallardo, is a further demonstration of good taste in this new step.

According to Delimbo managers "Clearly, we like to have a expositive line, but expose the artwork of Mariajosé Gallardo is for us an honor and a privilege. 
Since long time ago we wanted to show in our artspace Mariajosé artworks, but when we saw the new work in his studio, something stirred within us, we could not find words to describe what we were witnessing."

Altarpieces, Baroque, old and new, coats, objects of worship, biblical episodes, psicokillers, funeral prayers, military look, ornaments ... these are just words meant to evoke the paintings of Mariajosé, but it will not be possible only through language. You will have to visit Delimbo and check it out by yourself: Teneo Te by Mariajosé Gallardo until September 2011.

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Today at Belio we introduce you one of those artists that fascinate us and that would probably be featured on our magazine with a twelve-page article: Gerry Judah is a sculptor and painter who moves between minimalism and abstract expressionism. His works are usually reduced to one or two colors, mainly black and white, and can be described as well organized mass of architecture models and paint remembering post-war or post-apocalyptic landscapes, but full of great formal beauty.

In the following video you can enjoy an extensive tour among his different works, but also the interesting process of creating one of Judah's works. A close and intimate vision that brings us to the intricacies of his study.



Gerry Judah was born in 1951 in Calcutta and grew up in West Bengal before his family moved to London when he was ten years old. As a boy, the dramatic landscapes of India and the ornate architecture of its temples, mosques and synagogues with their theatrical rituals had a profound effect on Judah's developing psyche. Austere London, still in its post-war drab, was a shock to the young boy, and he chose to spend as much time as possible in his bedroom conjuring up with pencils and paper imaginary landscapes, architectural fantasies and futuristic cars. In short, he became an artist.

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For all those that will miss the show Mexican Urban Art in the art center L'Escorxador, open until July 3. But also for those who want to see how we set up all the exhibition, Belio has made ​​the following video documentary. There you can see the four artists (Dhear, Saner, Seher and Sego) in action as well as some details of the works and some moments from the opening. All that accompanied by a couple of songs from Los Amparito, a musical project by the Mexican Carlos Pesina, without doubt one of the most interesting musical proposals from Mexico. An hybrid of traditional music and electronic evolution that rescues the roots of a country with a rich culture in all senses.